2 Days in Paris (2007)
NETFLIX SYNOPSIS: Returning from a disastrous “romantic” trip to Venice, Marion (Julie Delpy) and Jack (Adam Goldberg) stop in Paris for two days to visit Marion’s parents. But Marion’s Parisian ex-lovers, her overbearing parents and culture shock all conspire to make American-born Jack feel even more estranged from Marion in this quirky comedy. Delpy, who also directed, received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best First Feature.
REVIEW: I didn’t think I was going to like this movie. The movie is referential, and as I recognized Woody Allen meets Richard Linklater, at first I thought, “Oh boy, now we get to see Julie Delpy’s student film.” But Ms. Delpy is deliberately referential in Two Days in Paris so that she can tweak the Woody and Mia, Julie and Ethan pairings a little and meld them into an original, smart and fun romantic comedy that makes some pretty profound comments on the cultural divide and on the nature of relationships.
Adam Goldberg is wonderfully twitchy, and Julie Delpy is great as usual. Her real-life parents play her fictional parents in this film, and they wonderfully steal almost every scene in which they appear. Paris is the perfect setting for the film, and the direction is mostly unobtrusive. I would not have known that Delpy directed herself if I had not read it in the credits.
Two Days in Paris isn’t the best film of the year or anything, but it is a very funny movie, and it demonstrates that Julie Delpy is a talent to look for behind the camera, not just in front of it.
4 stars
Lori
